Logos Bible Software Releases New Interactive Bible Study Curriculum

Logos Bible Software is launching a new series of interactive Bible study curriculum material, starting with Abraham: Following God’s Promise. This new series includes tools to allow churches and small group Bible studies to more thoroughly study the lives of Bible characters through these new, interactive tools. What’s especially nice is everything, from sermon starters to graphics to leader’s and participant’s guides, are all included, and everything syncs with the Logos ecosystem, so the curriculum integrates seamlessly with Logos Bible Software, Logos Bible Software’s mobile apps, the FaithLife Study Bible app and FaithLife community, and Proclaim for broadcasting slides on air.

When one purchases the curriculum through Logos.com (also available in a series), three volumes are included in the collection: the participant’s guide, the leader’s guide, as well as a set of instructional videos. Here’s a brief look at all three volumes.

Participant’s Guide
The participant’s guide includes the main lesson material participants will use to follow along with during Bible studies (and participants can purchase copies of the participant’s guide at Logos.com and bring their notebooks or tablets to church or the small group Bible study to follow along). Each chapter (which corresponds as a single lesson), notates the passage of Scripture participants are studying in each lesson, as well as breaking down the lesson into a few major areas.

Setting the Stage includes background information on the passage, such as the theme, literary context, and the historical and cultural background.

A Closer Look dives deeper into the passage concerning the life of the Bible character. This section offers a clear, understandable interpretation of the passage and allows participants to thoroughly understand the meaning of a passage.

Throughout the Bible takes a look at how the life of the Biblical character influenced the lives of others throughout the Bible, and allows participants to take a wide overall approach to how the passage of Scripture and the Bible character fits into the overall context of the Bible.

Beyond the Bible allows participants to study extra-Biblical texts to see how the Bible character and the passage of Scripture fits into the overall context of history, doing so with clarity and ease of understanding.

Application allows participants to apply each lesson to their lives, bringing home what they’ve learned through their Bible study in a way that’ll directly impact and apply to their lives.

Further Reading offers a small bibliography of books related to each lesson, all hyperlinked to the books in Logos format for those who own them in their Logos libraries.

There’s a few other additional tools that are helpful and make the lessons more interactive. Infographics are placed along the way, verses are all hyperlinked to one’s preferred Bible in Logos, and “Quick Bits” and “Quick Tips” offer additional tidbits of information along the way. Study questions are placed along each lesson as well, and participants can type their answers directly into the participant’s guides and have the material sync with the rest of the Logos ecosystem. Logos 5 users will also be able to enjoy features such as integrated community highlights, links to the Logos 5 Timeline, etc. Participants could also setup their lessons to sync with the FaithLife community, allowing participants to share notes with each other and interact on a social level during each lesson.

Leader’s Guide
The leader’s guide is similar in setup to the participant’s guide, but it also includes a few additional resources. First of all, there’s an excellent introduction that explains how to use the Leader’s Guide and incorporate the curriculum into a church or small group Bible study.

Each lesson also includes Learning Objectives, instructing leader’s what participants should be learning as they progress through each lesson. Infographic slides are included so leader’s can present them to their Bible study group, and these infographics can be displayed inside Logos or exported to applications such as PowerPoint or Proclaim so they can be integrated into a custom-designed presentation. Preaching Themes are included to give preachers topics which’ll help them develop sermons based on the lesson material. Links to the instructional videos are also included in the leader’s guide. “Leader’s notes” and discussion questions are also included to give leaders material to teach and discuss with participants as they progress through each lesson.

The leader’s guide also includes a Sermon Resources section, allowing preachers to easily build sermons based on the material from each lesson. Links to the videos, and infographics are again included here, as well as the preaching themes are also included here again as well. What is slightly different is the Sermon Resources section also includes sample sermon outlines based on each lesson, as well as “preacher’s notes” to help preachers drive home the points of his sermon.

Instructional Videos
The instructional videos include a video introduction of each lesson from Scott Lindsey giving a good overview of each lesson, perfect for showing to participants before diving into each lesson. There’s also a “bumper video” that includes the courseware artwork which is handy to show when beginning the lesson series. These videos can be played right inside Logos as well as displayed full screen. There’s probably a way to export them to PowerPoint or Proclaim as well, although I haven’t personally tested it yet.

The new series of interactive Bible study curriculum material from Logos Bible Software, beginning with Abraham: Following God’s Promise, is truly the next step in Bible study material. It’s a revolutionary, interactive, new way to engage in Bible studies like never before, learning more about various Biblical characters. This new series is perfect for any church or small group Bible study wanting to get participants studying God’s Word together and learning more about Biblical characters. While I’ve only seen the material inside Logos and haven’t had the ability to test it in a Bible study setting yet, I see the major potential this new series has, and I invite churches and small group Bible studies to give it a try. It’ll really take small group Bible study to a whole new level.

About Nathan Parker

M Div Graduate, IT Consultant for Earth Networks, contributor at WeatherTogether and Focusing on the Mark Ministries, as well as anything else the Lord has in store for me!
"Obey God and leave all the consequences to Him" -Charles Stanley